The strange tale of the missing Oscar

It seems that the Oscars haven't always been about handing out statuettes and incessant self-promotion. The awards actually have a deep, dark past that I must say I was not aware of until recently. Hattie McDaniel, who was the first black person to win an Oscar for her role of the slave "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind, passed the statuette on to Howard University before her death in 1952. However, while researching a book about the much celebrated and maligned actress, the author found out that officials at Howard University were unaware they were ever given the Oscar, which still remains somewhere in limbo today.